Thumbs -- Published April 24, 2012

The California real estate market is improving. Or it's falling. Or it's flat.

The Record

The California real estate market is improving. Or it's falling. Or it's flat.

You could draw just about any of those conclusions from two reports out last week about March sales.

First, the California Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes slipped 4.5 percent last month from February's level.

Then DataQuik reported that sales of new and existing homes shot up 26.5 percent in March, a five year high for that month.

Hmmm.

At least both CAR and DataQuick seemed to agree about year-over-year sales. CAR said sales last month were up 9.2 percent compared to March 2011. DataQuick put the increase at 2.9 percent.

And both said prices inched higher in March, though CAR said statewide median prices were virtually flat to 12 months earlier, while DataQuick had prices up by almost 1 percent.

The message: It pays to consider more than one source.

Thumbs up and down

Peoria, Ill.'s bishop, Daniel Jenky, might want to read a bit deeper into history before comparing President Obama to Hitler and Stalin.

Jenky drew that out-of-proportion parallel during a recent homily when he declared, "In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama, with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path."

Jenky certainly is within his First Amendment rights to disagree with the White House on any subject he likes. But you've got to ask, really? Hitler? Stalin?

Comparing any American president with those two monsters - including those who drew such historical parallels when George W. Bush was president - undermines the point of any argument. More importantly, such a statement trivializes the blood of millions on the hands of two of history's true fiends.

Thumbs down

State lawmakers are wrestling with whether to go ahead with the sale of $2.6 billion in voter-approved bonds as seed money for a north-south high-speed rail system.

The rail authority wants the money so it can be matched with $3.3 billion in federal money. Of course, that's far short of the $68.4 billion the project is estimated to cost. Of course, that's well above the $45 billion voters were told it would cost when they approved the bonds in 2008. And, of course, that's well below the $98 billion project estimates ballooned to at one point.

And the real point is, who's going to pay for this, according to a highly critical report handed lawmakers last week by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. The LAO said 60 percent of the funds to build the system come from still-unidentified federal sources.

Capitol Hill tooth fairies seem to be in short supply these days, except as they dance in the minds of some lawmakers and rail authority officials.

Thumbs down

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who's expressed frustration with his steppingstone job, as in there's nothing to do, has found something to do.

This full-time politician - who taxpayers pay $130,490 a year to be full time - will become a part-time talk show host on Current TV.

He replaces Keith Olbermann, as obnoxious from the left as Rush Limbaugh is from the right.

Newsom says he will donate to charity his pay as a progressive talk show host. Or perhaps he could donate his taxpayer-paid salary back to the state treasury and live off his Current TV pay until another he hones in on another elective position that interests him.